Piotr Wilczewski Fires out a Warning To James DeGale

By Terence Dooley

Poland’s Piotr Wilczewski has confirmed that he will defend his EBU super-middleweight belt against London’s James DeGale on September 17th. ‘Wilk’ won the vacant strap courtesy of an eleventh round TKO over Amin Asikainen in March and will be making his maiden defence.

DeGale’s last outing saw him lose both his ‘0’ and British 168lb title to George Groves after a tightly contested battle at London’s O2 Arena. ‘Saint’ George emerged as the winner via a majority decision.

‘Chunky’ struck middleweight gold at the 2008 Olympic Games. However, his 10-1 (8) record is dwarfed by Piotr’s 29-1 (10) slate, prompting the champion to claim that his 25-year-old challenger has bitten off more than he can chew.

“I have a lot of respect for James DeGale. He is a gifted, strong and fast boxer. But I will come to London with belts I like very, very much [writer’s note: Piotr’s WBO Inter-Continental title may also be on the line] and I do not want to leave my titles in the UK. As a pro, James has not fought such an experienced boxer as myself – I believe experience is my big asset,” revealed Wilczewski when speaking to Boxingscene.com.

He added: “James won a middleweight gold medal at the Olympic Games. As a young boy I dreamed about doing the same thing. When turning pro several years ago, I accepted the fact that I will never win Olympic gold. But now I have a chance to get a win over an Olympic champion. I will do my best to succeed. Beating a gold medallist is a little bit like winning the gold medal, is not it?”